COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The seventh-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team opened the second half on a 4-1 run but came up short in a 15-6 loss to No. 4 Maryland Sunday afternoon at the Terrapins' Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. The Blue Devils fall to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference action after beginning the spring with four consecutive wins.

"It was not a great day for our offense," said head coach Kerstin Kimel. "I felt like we made too many mistakes. But there are really good things that we can take away from this game. I want our kids to focus on the effort and some of the areas that we made adjustments in and did a better job of in the second half."

Senior Kaitlin Gaiss and freshman Kelsey Duryea split time in goal, with Gaiss recording three saves and Duryea eight in her collegiate debut. Maryland's Kasey Howard made seven stops in the win.

Down 9-2 at the intermission, the Blue Devils came out firing in the second half, as Maurer corralled the opening draw and picked up her second assist on a goal by Morrissey. After taking over in between the pipes at halftime for her first appearance this season, Duryea came up with several key saves to keep momentum on Duke's side. Maurer added two more goals over the next 10 minutes and Salamone also scored as Duke went on a 4-1 run to narrow Maryland's lead to 10-6 with just under 15 minutes to play.

"I felt like our kids did a great job coming out of halftime refocused on trying to chip away at our deficit," Kimel said. "With the goalie change, putting Kelsey in, I thought she made a couple of really critical stops. And that gave us some momentum - to be able to make those stops was huge."

However, the Terrapins responded with three consecutive scores to push their lead back to seven at 13-6. Maryland tacked on two more goals before the clock expired for the 15-6 victory.

For the game, the Terrapins outshot Duke 32-17 and won the ground ball battle, 15-5. The Blue Devils won the draw control category, 13-11, with junior defender Taylor Virden leading the way with three. Duke was also 12-of-13 on the day in clear attempts and committed 13 turnovers in the loss.

Maryland struck first in the opening half, converting a free position attempt and adding another score less than a minute later for an early 2-0 advantage. Sophomore Kerrin Maurer broke through the Terrapin defense to provide the answer for Duke on an unassisted goal at the 23:33 mark.

Maryland capitalized at the draw over the next few minutes, rattling off three consecutive goals for a 5-1 lead midway through the first half. Duke came up with a stop on the next defensive possession, highlighted by a Gaiss save, but the Terrapins scored twice to extend their run to 7-0.

Sophomore Taylor Trimble won the ensuing draw for the Blue Devils and Maurer quickly found Quirke for a goal at the end of the half, cutting Maryland's lead to 9-2 at the break.

In the first period, the Terrapins held a 17-9 advantage in shots while Duke won eight draw controls to Maryland's five.

Duke returns home for a tilt with Vanderbilt Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m. That contest will be aired on ESPN3.